By: Elizabeth Angsioco
Published in Manila Standard Today
Dated March 5, 2011
Concluded from last Saturday
The Ayala Alabang barangay ordinance regulating contraceptives has become a big issue since I tweeted about it and posted the ordinance online. This is an example of how social media are able to rally behind an issue and cause action by appropriate groups or institutions. Mainstream media continue to pick it up, concerned residents are now aware of it, and the Muntinlupa City Council is on the ordinance. Indeed, there is power in social media networking.
I said that I take serious issue against the ordinance and started with its misquoting the Constitution.
Reader Grace Chua said, “I do not understand what Elizabeth Angsioco is complaining about… Maybe the word “child” was inserted into the Ayala ordinance from the text of the Philippine Constitution but is there a question of whether our Philippine Constitution recognizes the unborn as a child or not? Why would the Constitution protect the life of the unborn if the framers did not consider the unborn human? If the unborn IS not a human being with personality, what on Earth does Angsioco think it can possibly be? I am against the fines she mentions but I wish Angsioco would also expose the unconstitutional fines of up to P50,000.00 and imprisonment of up to six months that the RH Bill imposes… if it is passed.”
My personal position on whether the word “unborn” equates with “child” is immaterial here. The fact remains that the council inserted a word in a direct quote from the Constitution. This cannot be. As a non-lawyer, I understand that stating one’s interpretation of Constitutional provisions is one thing and inserting words when the Constitution is quoted to make it adhere to the interpretation is another.
Moreover, by passing the ordinance, the council usurped congressional powers by already rendering a decision on another bill: House Bill 13 “Protection of the Unborn Child.” This bill attempts to equate “unborn” with “child” but is questioned by many lawmakers and remains pending. The AAV council went ahead of Congress and approved the bill through its ordinance.
Yes, Ms. Chua, there is a question on the Constitutional provision but certainly, the AAV barangay council is NOT the body to decide on it.
Lastly, the RH bill’s penalty provision is far from being unconstitutional. Unlike barangay councils which have very limited powers in levying penalties, Congress has no such restriction. It can legislate penalties it sees fit for violations of national laws such as RH when it passes. Thus, I don’t need to expose anything.
Let me now go to other reasons why I oppose the AAV ordinance.
This barangay ordinance is precedent-setting and has national implications.
If deemed legal, this ordinance will only be implemented within Barangay Ayala Alabang BUT it will set a precedent and nothing will stop other anti-RH barangay councils from coming up with their own. Dangerous.
As stated by lawyer Louie Sison, spokesperson for the ordinance (whatever that means), they want this to become a model for other barangays to follow. Imagine the constitutionally guaranteed rights that can be trampled upon! The rights to privacy (Article III Section 3), health (Article II Section 15; Article XIII Section 11), information (Article III Section 7), education, (Article XIV Sections 1 and 2(1), and the right of spouses to found a family (Article XV Section 3) are all clearly constitutionally protected. One barangay ordinance can threaten all these!
Another reader, Caesar Angeles, emailed saying that he agreed with my view but disagreed that the ordinance is an outrage. He said, “the issue belongs more to the realm of comedy” because said ordinance can be easily subverted since AAV residents can easily buy condoms from outside.
I have heard this reaction a few times and I wish I can treat the issue light-heartedly. Yes, AAV residents can get their contraceptives elsewhere but this is not just about where one gets condoms. This is about violation of rights.
This is also about those in poverty. What if a similar ordinance is passed in poor barangays where people source supplies from public health providers? Shouldn’t this be of concern to all of us?
It is very important that this ordinance is blocked.
The passage of the AAV ordinance did not adhere to correct processes.
Beyond the substance is the problem of process. Sison says that the ordinance is already implementable because the city council (which has reviews all barangay ordinances) did not reject it within the required 30 days within which it can do so.
What really happened? The barangay council passed the ordinance on 3 January, they submitted it to the Muntinlupa City Council which forwarded it to its Committee on Health and Sanitation for review. This committee, in a letter dated 11 January, told the barangay council that the ordinance has several flaws and could not be approved in its present form. The process stopped in the hands of the barangay council.
Instead of revising the ordinance, they may have waited for the thirty days to lapse after which they issued a newsletter advisory saying that the ordinance is now being implemented. To me, this is grave abuse of authority.
City council members said on television that the ordinance violates national laws and cannot be approved. Mayor Aldrin San Pedro reportedly even warned Barangay Captain Xerez-Burgos that they may be facing administrative charges for their actions.
Outraged, village residents have been moving from Day One – and there are more of them now. Recently, led by former Department of Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral, residents strategized with advocates like myself, Dr. Junice Demeterio-Melgar (Likhaan), Ben De Leon (Forum for Family Planning), Roberto Ador (Family Planning Organization of the Philippines), and Aurora Pijuan (Gising Barangay Movement.) Available legal options were discussed with known lawyers, former Environment Secretary Jun Factoran, Adel Tamano, former UP College of Law Dean Raul Pangalangan and UP Law Professor Beth Pangalangan. Other lawyers manifested interest to join the group.
With these, I honestly do not know how the AAV barangay council can win this fight.
eangsioco@yahoo.com